Blunt visits Missouri Capitol, says he hopes DACA deal can be reached

Missouri U.S. Senator Roy Blunt is expressing disappointment at President Donald Trump’s tweet this week, which said a federal program that allows undocumented children to remain in the U.S. is effectively “dead.”

The Republican Senator told reporters in Jefferson City Wednesday he hopes it’s not too late for a solution that allows them to stay.

“Well, I think there’s a lot of appropriate sympathy for kids who were brought here and grew up here, and [who] really know no other country,” he said. “The [DACA] criteria is not being in trouble, having been here a long time, having grown up here, and being ready to go to work … [that’s] pretty good criteria — and we need more people like that in our country, anyway.”

Blunt made those comments after delivering a brief address to the Missouri House on the work he’s performing in the U.S. Senate.

President Trump gave Congress a March 6 deadline to come up with a replacement for the DACA program, which did not happen. But federal courts have stepped in and said it can remain in place for now.

During his speech to the Missouri House, Blunt paid tribute to civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr., who was assassinated in Memphis 50 years ago Wednesday.

“There’s going to be a lot of discussion in the last few days, and the next few days, about Dr. King,” Blunt said, “but it’s really a good time to think about the importance of life, the value of life, and the difference that one committed life can make.”

Blunt’s address was preceded by a short speech from John Saville, the British Consul General to the Midwestern U.S., who was also visiting the Missouri Capitol.